Did Toronto Mayor Rob Ford make it to rehab?

TORONTO — The mystery of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s whereabouts has deepened, following reports that Ford did not enter the United States via Chicago last week, as expected.

His lawyer said last week that the mayor had left Toronto for rehab after another video surfaced that appeared to show Ford smoking a crack pipe. The lawyer, Dennis Morris, said Ford’s plane was headed for Chicago.

But Roy Norton, the Consul General of Canada in Chicago, is telling The Globe and Mail that Ford voluntarily withdrew his application to enter the U.S. when he landed and was “not denied entry, per se.”

Morris and Doug Ford, Rob’s brother, declined to discuss the Globe’s report, but insisted Tuesday to The Associated Press that the mayor is in rehab.

“The most important thing, everyone who is concerned if he’s in rehab, the answer is yes. As for his whereabouts that’s personal and that should stay with Rob,” Doug Ford said.

“I’ve got nothing to add about the mayor. I can just tell you he’s in rehab,” Morris said.

The scandal over Ford’s crack use first exploded last May when news reports emerged of a first video showing him smoking the drug. After police said they had obtained that video, Ford admitted that he had smoked crack while in a “drunken stupor.”

Although Ford has not abandoned his bid to seek a second term in October’s elections, the revelation of a second crack video raised skepticism about his chances of prevailing. His decision to seek treatment comes months after he announced he was finished with alcohol — only to be followed by a steady flow of reports of drunken behavior.